The White House has added yet another to a series of recent public diplomacy disasters: not sending a high-level delegation to Poland for the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of WWII, announcing withdrawal of US missiles from Central Europe on the 70th anniversary of the Soviet invasion, going to Copenhagen to address the IOC .
Opinia.US In a speech on the Senate floor on Thursday, Senator George Voinovich (R-OH) said he was disappointed in the manner in which President Obama’s decision to revise a missile-defense system in Eastern Europe was communicated to NATO allies, Poland and Czech Republic. Calling the handling of the missile decision a “major public relations and public diplomacy blunder,” Senator Voinovich…
Public Diplomacy, Russia, Video
US Embassy Warsaw Farewell Interview with Ambassador Victor H. Ashe, Sept. 17, 2009
The interview with the outgoing US Ambassador to Poland Victor H. Ashe was conducted by a US Embassy Warsaw press attache on September 17, 2009, the day of President Obama’s announcement about discarding the American missile defense system in Poland and Czech Republic. The Polish government saw the missile shield as a major US security guarantee and protection against any…
Poland, Public Diplomacy, Russia
Walesa on Obama’s Missile Diplomacy – American Diplomacy Failed Obama in Poland Update
“It wasn’t that the shield was that important, but it’s about the way, the way of treating us.” –Lech Wałęsa, the former Polish president and Solidarity leader, regarding the US decision to drop the missile defense shield in Poland; John Brown’s Public Diplomacy Press and Blog Review, Version 2.0 Dear Poland, Happy Soviet Invasion Day, Love Uncle Sam…
Dear Poland, Happy Soviet Invasion Day, Love Uncle Sam Wired While American and international media blames President Obama for choosing to announce his decision on the removal of the missile defense system from Poland and Czech Republic on the 70th anniversary of the Soviet attack on Poland on September 17, 1939, surprisingly so far no one has called it…
Buzek – Poland has a clear conscience over WW II President of the European Parliament and former Polish prime minister Jerzy Buzek, thought some of Vladimir Putin’s comments at WW II anniversary ceremony in Poland were “offensive”. Read full Polish Radio report…
The New York Times correspondent in Moscow Michael Schwirtz reported that many Poles saw the low-level U.S. representation at the 70th anniversary of the start of World War II observances in Gdansk as a snub from the Obama Administration. Russia sent Prime Minister Putin, whose statement that the Hitler-Stalin Pact “can be condemned” was misleadingly reported by most international media…
John Brown, a former USIA foreign service officer who is now associated with the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University, has posted an article about an apparent dispute within the Obama Administration on the direction of “strategic communications.” Here are some excerpts: There seems to be yet another bureaucratic battle brewing in Washington. On one side of…
In an article posted in the Foreign Policy Association Blog, Mark Dillen made a reference to my report about the failure of the State Department to respond quickly and adequately to the terrorist attack in Ingushetia. Mark Dillen is a former Senior Foreign Service Officer with the US State Department. He managed political, media and cultural relations for US embassies…
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Cautious to a Fault: Solidarity with Reformers in Poland and Iran – Reagan’s Response in 1981 Markedly Different from Obama’s in 2009
FreeMediaOnline.org, Free Media Online Blog, GovoritAmerika.us, Commentary by Ted Lipien, June 26, 2009, San Francisco — Ronald Reagan’s strong response to the imposition of martial law against the independent Solidarity trade union in Poland in 1981 was distinctly different from President Barack Obama’s nuanced comments about the crackdown on demonstrators in Iran in the aftermath of the disputed Iranian presidential elections. While President Obama may have wanted to show his appreciation…